Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Team MVP?

Since his MLB debut in 2009, Andrew McCutchen has been the Pirates Team MVP according to WAR. Last year he struggled to produce his All-Star level and MVP level numbers. Many suspect this was due to him playing through injuries, batting in a different spot in lineup, playing out of his comfortable deep center field position.

The Pirates are starting to go back to a youth movement and create a new core for the Pirates future.

Gone are the days of callups like Garrett Jones, Cutch, Neil Walker, Jose Tabata, and Pedro Alvarez.

The team has focused on their international scouting a lot since Neal Huntington took over. The first Korean born position player (Jung Ho Kang) made his debut in 2015 along with the first African born player (Gift Ngoepe) in 2017.

The new core will likely feature many international players going forward in 2018 and beyond. Gregory Polanco, Starling Marte, Gift Ngoepe, Alen Hanson, Felipe Rivero all will likely compete with Josh Bell and Adam Frazier for the Team's MVP name going forward.

I think with Cutch batting only .200 his time as Team MVP is over.

And it saddens me...

Prizm 2013 spotlights Cutch's incredible 2012 season, which unfortunately ended with a rough September. The drop off of Cutch's production likely cost him the batting title, MVP, and the Pirates Post Season hopes.